Core Science GCSE to A/S Chemistry - ?

need_an_answer

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

That's a choice the child must make, not the parent. 30 years ago when I was looking at universities and filling out the UCCA form my parents let me get on with it and didn't interfere, even when I decided not at apply to Cambridge they accepted my choice. I would hope the same would be true today.

sorry it was a figure of speech!

not aimed in any way at the parent making the choice

I couldn't agree more that the choice made by the applicant afterall they need to feel content with where they study.

My bundle of fun couldn't be happier where they are and Yes I really think it makes a difference to be somewhere they can flourish and be confident with.

I do feel that there is quite a large amount of pressure put on young people to go towards Russell Universities from college tutors etc and with hindsight it is something that I felt my child could have explored other options more thoughtfully rather than be guided by teachers...that is where the phrase choose your university well came from!

jrtfan

peachyprice wrote: »

This would trouble me TBH, that the school expect so few pupils out of a whole year group to be able to study triple science, this is a very low expectation of the science department overall.

This really isn't a bridge between core science and A level, a better comparison would be the difference between foundation and higher tier maths or English. A Levels are a different ball game altogether with a large emphasis on independent learning that just isn't a requirement for good grade GCSEs.

It's quite small for a state school and their intake has increased since he joined, but I think the figure works out around 1/5 of his particular year's cohort. Not sure how this compares to other state secondary schools, but on this link it says that one-quarter of pupils nationally were entered for triple science GCSE in 2016:

https://educationdatalab.org.uk/2017/03/weird-science/

I can't find any recent data at the moment, but looking at a BBC report from October 2015 I notice that we live in an area within which less than 80% of schools offered triple science, at the time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30983083
We've also retained our grammar schools here which might well have something to do with this, I don't know.

It's frustrating that he didn't press his teacher for more information, really. And I know that what he's feeding back to me will be his own interpretation of what they said to him, so all I can do is speculate at the moment - unless I approach the school in person. It's a hard judgement call to make - trying to strike a balance between being supportive of him, and being an overbearing, interfering and pushy parent!

Thank you for the clarification re my 'bridging' analogy! That makes more sense now

EDIT: Sorry, it's just sunk in what you've said about independent learning and GCSEs. 'Independent learning' was how it was described to me when I first went to see the school, but maybe 'working at their own pace' would be more appropriate? Students are supposed to log in at home to one of several web sites and work through the tasks on there, according to each subject they're taking. I don't know if it works in a similar way when in the classroom, though (ie if they work through their textbooks and the teacher helps out when they get stuck). From what he tells me, I think it does. He's been advised to tackle the more difficult sections for Science. His current teacher explained that he's very willing in class to help other pupils to understand the problems they're working on and they said it's good in one respect because it's helping to consolidate his own knowledge of these things. But they felt that by doing this, he wasn't actually extending himself in the process and this is something he needs to address, in order to move forward. This hasn't been mentioned in previous parent's evenings, and if it's what had been happening for a while then it could explain why this teacher is having to push them harder at the moment. It's a very long time since I was at school and we had teachers conducting our lessons from the front of the class back then, but methods have probably changed meanwhile.

Savvy_Sue

It's absolutely not too soon to be contacting colleges around you. Your DS may be assuming he'll stay on where he is, but it's always worth knowing what the options are.

Tabbytabitha

jrtfan wrote: »

In my son's case, there are only 8 universities in the UK offering the veterinary medicine course (possibly 9 now, I've heard rumours that Aberystwyth may be doing it as well).

But if he can't get onto that particular course, then there are lots of places where he could study his chosen alternatives.

My one piece of advice to him so far has been to try and get into a uni that's reachable from home, if he can. With Vet Med, he's looking at a 5-year degree plus the maintenance loan as well. With tuition fees likely to rise by the time he starts in 2021, he could stand to rack up one heck of a debt if he moved away from home to study this.

Otherwise, I'll leave it to him to choose where he'd like to go (and advise him not to be pressured into making his choice by anyone else!).

My OH went to Oxford and I studied with the OU. It's whatever suits best, really

I wouldn't encourage him to limit his options in any way - his repayments will be the same, however much he owes.

Tabbytabitha

need_an_answer wrote: »

sorry it was a figure of speech!

not aimed in any way at the parent making the choice

I couldn't agree more that the choice made by the applicant afterall they need to feel content with where they study.

My bundle of fun couldn't be happier where they are and Yes I really think it makes a difference to be somewhere they can flourish and be confident with.

I do feel that there is quite a large amount of pressure put on young people to go towards Russell Universities from college tutors etc and with hindsight it is something that I felt my child could have explored other options more thoughtfully rather than be guided by teachers...that is where the phrase choose your university well came from!

Actually, it can work in the opposite way as well in that many tutors don't like to talk about some universities being better than others, either from ignorance or misplaced egalitarianism. Having been to a non Russell, plate glass university myself, I certainly wouldn't advise students that Russell Group is the only way to go but neither do I think students should be led to think that the University of Bolton is on a par with the University of Manchester.

jrtfan

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

It's absolutely not too soon to be contacting colleges around you. Your DS may be assuming he'll stay on where he is, but it's always worth knowing what the options are.

Yes, I agree completely.

Forthcoming inset day - spend it phoning around a few places - that should stop him from getting bored!

jrtfan

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

I wouldn't encourage him to limit his options in any way - his repayments will be the same, however much he owes.

I doubt if he would pay much attention to what I say anyway, to be honest! He's always known his own mind, that's not always a bad thing though as at least he'll be nobody's fool as he goes through life.

(A pain in the rear end to live with, maybe! )

I know absolutely nothing about how student finance works, other than they lend money for tuition fees and for living costs, and that repayments don't start until the student earns above a certain amount per year. Wouldn't the size of the loan mean he'd be paying it back for longer, or that he'd have to make larger repayments (if he wanted to clear it more quickly)?

Tabbytabitha

zagubov wrote: »

The new AS/A levels are so very much tougher now that the teachers/lecturers need to be really careful to select students who'll benefit.

Vet school is massively more competitive than medicine. They only take a very few hundred students a year.

jrtfan wrote: »

I doubt if he would pay much attention to what I say anyway, to be honest! He's always known his own mind, that's not always a bad thing though as at least he'll be nobody's fool as he goes through life.

(A pain in the rear end to live with, maybe! )

I know absolutely nothing about how student finance works, other than they lend money for tuition fees and for living costs, and that repayments don't start until the student earns above a certain amount per year. Wouldn't the size of the loan mean he'd be paying it back for longer, or that he'd have to make larger repayments (if he wanted to clear it more quickly)?

A larger loan would mean paying it back for longer if you're earning over the threshold but it's generally considered inadvisable to pay it back earlier than you have to because you might be paying back more than you need if your situation were to change.

Congratulations in producing an independently thinking child!

jrtfan

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

A larger loan would mean paying it back for longer if you're earning over the threshold but it's generally considered inadvisable to pay it back earlier than you have to because you might be paying back more than you need if your situation were to change.

Congratulations in producing an independently thinking child!

Thanks! Very independently thinking. Primary school was an interesting experience.

Thanks too for replying with regard to the student loans. I think I understand what you mean - so, were he to be made redundant in the future for example, or if he had to change to a job that paid under the threshold, then the repayments would stop for the time being? (Or maybe stop altogether, in certain circumstances?)

need_an_answer

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

Actually, it can work in the opposite way as well in that many tutors don't like to talk about some universities being better than others, either from ignorance or misplaced egalitarianism. Having been to a non Russell, plate glass university myself, I certainly wouldn't advise students that Russell Group is the only way to go but neither do I think students should be led to think that the University of Bolton is on a par with the University of Manchester.

I totally agree with you.

Having had no experience of universities,neither myself or my OH either felt the need to go to one or wanted that path,we did rely quite heavily on the guidance of our childs teaching staff to advise/mentor them when it came to decisions about university statement choices.
High grades were required and subsequently achieved but sadly the places offered were not extended to entrance once the A level results were gained.
With hindsight the first and second choices were very similar in both terms of grades required and course offered,reasonably close universities who now seem to work off the back of eachother.

Having to go through clearing with the grades mine had was certainly an eye opener and whilst it didn't take very long to achieve a very good back up plan I certainly feel there could have been a lot of tension and self doubt avoided if perhaps the steer hadn't been all focused on the Russell group.

I guess it comes down to needing to do lots of research beforehand but always having a back up plan and being open to change if that's what your results dictate

In our case its worked extremely well and the university our child ended up in was and is the perfect match.